E-News

July 2006  

E-Newsletter

This edition of the Hauser Center E-News highlights activities and events from
April to June 2006.
 

Featured Research

Activity Update

People in Action

Hauser People in the News

Hauser Recent Publications

New Hauser Job Postings

Featured Research

Spotlight on International Civil Society Legitimacy and Accountability Project

Several years ago a Hauser Center team (Dave Brown, Mark Moore, and Jim Honan) worked with international NGOs and colleagues in Japanese universities to identify approaches to strengthening the accountability of civil society organizations and interorganizational domains with support from the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. That project developed frameworks for understanding strategic choices to develop organizational accountability systems and interorganizational negotiations to develop domain accountability systems. With continued support from the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, that initial project has been succeeded by a three-year initiative in collaboration with CIVICUS: The World Alliance for Citizen Participation to further develop initial frameworks; identify innovative responses to legitimacy and accountability challenges; strengthen capacities for legitimacy and accountability; and foster global debate and discourse that establish legitimate civil society roles and perspectives.

The research team (Dave Brown, Jim Honan, Laura Ax) has also been working with three kinds of leadership networks to share those innovations with civil society actors around the world: (1) a network of more than 60 national associations convened by CIVICUS, (2) regional alliances of civil society actors from Asia, Africa, Eastern and Central Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, and (3) an alliance of CEOs of international advocacy NGOs and networks (IANGOs) convened by the Hauser Center and CIVICUS. We have also organized capacity building workshops with key leaders in Montreal (May 2005) and Glasgow (June 2006). The Hauser-CIVICUS team has also fostered discussion and debate of these issues at a wide range of researcher, practitioner, and policy-maker meetings. What began as a series of investigations of legitimacy and accountability issues has become a highly visible series of debates and discussions that appears to be fostering widespread reflection on the nature of civil society legitimacy and accountability as seen by civil society actors and other stakeholders.
 

Activity Update

International Civil Society Legitimacy and Accountability Project
In cooperation with CIVICUS, Dave Brown and Laura Ax organized the second International Facilitators Workshop for the Legitimacy and Accountability Project on June 25 -26^th, following this years CIVICUS World Assembly in Glasgow, Scotland.  This workshop brought together regional leaders on initiatives to strengthen civil society legitimacy and accountability to share innovations and plan for the future.  Additionally, at the CIVICUS World Assembly in Glasgow, Scotland from June 21-25^th, they co-organized with CIVICUS a panel on the Legitimacy and Accountability Project, and Dave chaired a seminar on Citizen Participation and Democratic Governance with a team from PRIA in India.

Sierra Club Leadership Development Project
Marshall Ganz, Sarah Staley, and the project research team launched the Leadership Development Project with the Sierra Club with the first series of 2 and 1/2 day workshops. The purpose of the workshops was to introduce chapter and local leadership to a framework of organizing based on relationships, story, strategy, and action. These launch workshops occurred in Los Altos, CA from May 19-21^st, Santa Fe, NM from June 9-11^th, Seattle, WA from June 16-18^th, and St. Petersburg, FL from June 23-25^th.  The team also ran two 2-day workshops for a team of Sierra Club trainers that facilitated small group discussions during the launch workshops and will continue to train leaders in future workshops.  These trainings occurred May 18-19^th in Los Altos, CA and June 15-16^th in Santa Fe, NM.

International Advocacy NGOs Annual Workshop
The annual International Advocacy NGO and Network (IANGO) Fourth Annual Workshop was held from June 4-6^th, hosted by Amnesty International in London.  Dave Brown, Srilatha Batliwala, Sanjeev Khagram and Laura Ax convened and facilitated the workshop in cooperation with Kumi Naidoo and staff from CIVICUS.  During this Workshop the IANGOs held a press conference to publicly announce the creation and signing of the international NGO Accountability Charter by its initial eleven signatories.

Global NGO Executive Forum
The Global NGO Executive Forum was held in France on May 28-30^th.  The Forum is part of a series aimed at building community among the leaders of global relief and development NGOs.  NGO Presidents from Action Aid, BRAC, CARE, Islamic Relief, Oxfam, Save the Children, SEWA, and World Vision took part.  Guest speakers included Juan Somavia, Director General of the International Labour Organization who spoke about the ILOs Decent Work Campaign, and Pascal Lamy, Director General of the WTO, who shared remarks on the status of the Doha Round of trade negotiations.  Barbara Merz and Lincoln Chen, of Harvards Global Equity Initiative, planned and facilitated the workshop in cooperation with a Steering Committee of NGO leaders.

Harvard Diaspora Philanthropy and Equitable Development Conference
On May 10-12^th Harvards Global Equity Initiative held a Diasporas and Equitable Development workshop at Harvard University for a range of diaspora members, policymakers, scholars, and practitioners. The substantive focus was on diaspora philanthropy and equitable development, within the context of non-financial relations and flows, and included an examination of various models of the role of government, the role of innovative financing mechanisms and the interaction of diaspora with civil society.  An edited volume based on research presented at the workshop is forthcoming.   Barbara Merz, Peter Geithner, and Lincoln Chen with Harvards Global Equity Initiative, hosted the conference.

WIEGO Urban Policies Colloquium
From April 24-25^th, WIEGO co-organized an urban policies colloquium, World Class Cities and the Urban Informal Economy: Inclusive Planning for the Working Poor, with StreetNet International and the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu Natal.  The colloquium was held to coincide with and follow on from WIEGOs fourth General Assembly.   One hundred and fifty-seven participants from 29 countries participated in the colloquium, including Hauser Center staff Marty Chen, Mary Beth Graves, Suzanne Van Hook and Marais Canali.  The colloquium featured an opening session, sessions on workers perspectives and on comparative experiences of implementing inclusive urban plans, and a two-part policy dialogue.  For more information on the event, click here.

WIEGO General Assembly
WIEGO held its General Assembly in Durban, South Africa from April 21-23^rd.  The purposes of this meeting, which was the fourth General Meeting of WIEGO, were to launch the new governance and accountability structure of global research policy; share experiences and knowledge; set priorities and frame issues; and review WIEGOs past activities and future plans.  One hundred participants from 32 countries participated in the General Assembly and were drawn from member-based organizations, individual members, and interested individuals.  Hauser Center staff Marty Chen, Mary Beth Graves, Suzanne Van Hook and Marais Canali were amongst the participants.  To read more about this event, as well as view photos and session presentations, please click here.

Religion, Politics and Public Life Faculty Seminar Series
On April 17^th, the Program on Religion and Public Life (PRPL) held its final seminar for this year.  Prof. Alan Wolfe was the distinguished speaker for this seminar, who offered remarks about the role of Religion and Politics in the United States and Europe.  Alan Wolfe is Professor of Political Science and the Director of Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College. To view a seminar transcript, click here.  This faculty seminar series (by invitation only) is co-convened by J. Bryan Hehir and Mary Jo Bane and is a primary activity of the Program on Religion and Public Life at the Hauser Center.  The program will be sponsoring a final year of seminars during AY 2007.

People In Action

In the interest of space, the E-News does not include titles for Hauser faculty, researchers or staff.  For titles and bios, please click here.

On selected evenings in April and May, Peter Dobkin Hall showed films relating to American philanthropy and nonprofit organizations in the Hauser Center conference room.  The film series included Donald Duck in Walt Disneys World War II era propaganda cartoon, The Spirit of 43, and Jamie Johnsons prizewinning 2003 documentary, Born Rich.

On April 5^th, Marty Chen participated in the Informal Preparatory Meeting on the Theme of the 2006 High Level Segment hosted by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).  To view more information about this event, click here.  On April 6^th she spoke in the opening session of a World Bank half-day seminar on the informal economy which was organized in conjunction with the Banks annual Private Sector Development Forum.

Dave Brown spoke on Forces Driving Increased Attention to Civil Society Accountability as part of a public seminar on Civil Society Accountability at the Center on International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh on April 7^th.  He also gave a talk titled Legitimacy, Accountability and Transnational Civil Society at the Moynihan Institute for Global Affairs in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University on April 22^nd.

Marshall Ganz gave a talk to 14 young Armenian leaders participating in the Mercy Corps Conflict Management Group on April 19^th about how to organize and mobilize alumni to use their training and was part of a seminar to discuss conflict management efforts in the Middle East.  On April 24^th, he led a brown-bag lunch discussion for the Harvard Law Schools Program on Negotiation about the tension between mobilization and negotiation - and the particular kind of leadership challenges this poses.  And on April 26^th, Marshall accepted his award as the 2006 Distinguished Citizen Scholar by the Citizen Scholars Program at UMass Amherst and gave a talk entitled Knowledge of How to Combine:  Reclaiming the Democratic Process.

Barbara Merz gave a presentation on April 26^th to Stanford Law School on her book New Patterns for Mexico: Observations on Remittances, Philanthropic Giving, and Equitable Development (Harvard University Press 2005).

Marshall Ganz presented his Thoughts on movement building on May 3^rd at the Green Group retreat in Hyannis, MA.  The Green Group is a consortium of the leaders of the 30 major US environmental organizations including Audobon, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, etc.  From June 4-5^th, he presented a workshop at McGill University, as part of the Fellowship in Community Practice Workshop Series, on his framework for learning organizing: leadership, community, and power.

In June Mark Moore visited the UK to discuss his concept of creating public value in various events and speaking engagements.  These included as a Sunningdale Institute Fellow, presenting at the National School of Government international conference on Public Sector Reform held on June 6^th, and being interviewed by the National School principal.  To view or read a transcript of the interview, click here.

Tiziana Dearing was the keynote speaker at the annual gathering of OneEconomy, a nation-wide social enterprise, on June 7^th in Washington, DC.  Her topic was social innovation.

Dave Brown participated in a conference organized by the Ash Institute on Civil Society and Democratic Governance at Wilton Park in the UK from June 12-15^th.  At the conference he set the context and chaired a panel on Strengthening Civil Society.

From June 25-26^th, in Denver, CO, Mark Moore conducted the third Creating Public Value in the Arts seminar, in collaboration with the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF).  At the seminar, state and local arts agency and arts advocacy leaders from throughout the West explored ways in which relatively small entities such as state arts agencies can leverage change and catalyze networks within large state administrative and political systems.

Hauser Center Associate Prabha Kotiswaran organized a Workshop on Law and Social Movements, in India June 26-27^th, which brought together activists, lawyers and academics from various disciplines in order to deepen the extant theorizing on the relationship between social movements and the law.

On June 29^th, Jack McCarthy led a panel on financial transparency at the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Managements (NLRCM) annual conference at the Wharton School in Philadelphia.  He presented a program entitled Essentials of Church Financial Transparency: The Archdiocese of Boston Transparency Project which discussed the work he recently completed here in Boston.  The highly successful project was recognized at the conference banquet as a best practice by the NLRCM with its first annual award for excellence.  Rev. J. Bryan Hehir accepted the award on behalf of the Archdiocese of Boston.

Hauser People in the News

Peter Dobkin Hall appeared on ABC World News Tonight on April 11^th to comment on the need for independent assessment of the American Red Cross shortcomings. 

Jack McCarthy was quoted in the April 20^th Boston Globe article Church Tackles $46M Gap about the release of financial information by the Archdiocese of Boston.  Link to full text here.

On April 25^th the South African publication Business Report, quoted Marty Chen in the article Conference Highlights Urban Informal Sector.  To view the article, click here.

In the May edition of the Kennedy School Insight Marshall Ganzs research on Civic Participation and Effective Organizing is featured.  Link to feature here.

Marty Chen was quoted in the May 3^rd New York Times article Film Ignites the Wrath of Hindu Fundamentalists about the controversial Indian film Water.  Link to full text here.

On May 5^th, Marty Chen was interviewed by Chicago Public Radio program, Worldview, about widowhood in India.  To listen to the interview, please click here.

On May 7^th, Marty Chen was quoted in a Boston Globe article by Sandy MacDonald on the filmmaker Deepa Mehta, whose movie Water examined the lives of widows in India.

The Social Entrepreneurship Collaboratory, a KSG course spearheaded by Mark Moore, Dutch Leonard, and Gordon Bloom, is featured in the May 25^th edition of the Harvard Gazettes article Caring Entrepreneurship at KSG.  Link to full text here.

With the publication of the journal Baby Boomer Women: Secure Futures or Not? Paul Hodge and the issues he addresses in the journal have received extensive press coverage.  These include: Womens e-News, May 27^th: Retiring Boomers Face Poverty; Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 29^th: Boomer women face perils in retirement;  Dow Jones Market Watch, May 31^st: The $400 billion income shortfall, Baby-boomer women have tougher road to retirement; Realty Times, June 8^th: Home Ownership Crucial To Boomer Women's Retirement;  and in the June 26^th USA Today, June 26^th  Retirement unfolds in five stages for hearty boomers.

Mark Moore was cited in the June 8^th article on Finanzen.net, Accenture Launches Institute for Public Service Value to Identify and Promote Leading Practices in Government Service Delivery, for being a speaker at the Unlocking Public Value Forum.  Link to full text here.

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Hauser Recent Publications

Dave Brown and Vanessa Timmers article Civil Society Actors as Catalysts for Transnational Social Learning was published in the March 2006 (Vol.17, No.1) edition of Voluntas, International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations.  The Hauser working paper version of this article can be found here (Hauser working paper No.28):

On May 27^th the article Informality, Gender and Poverty: A Global Picture by Martha Chen, Joann Vanek, and James Heintz appeared in the Indian Journal Economic and Political Weeklys Review of Labour issue.

In May, the Urban Institute and the Hauser Center co-published the report After Katrina as part of the Emerging Issues in Philanthropy Seminar Series.  The report included the articles Charities Response to Disasters: Expectations and Realities, by Marion Fremont-Smith, Elizabeth T. Boris, and C. Eugene Steuerle, and Disasters and the Voluntary Sector: Reflections on the Social Response to Hurricane Katrina by Mark Moore.

Srilatha Batliwala and Dave Brown published Transnational Civil Society: An Introduction with Kumarian Press in June.  This book offers an introduction to understanding transnational civil society and its impacts on global issues.  For information on the book visit the Kumarian Press website.

Marion Fremont-Smiths article Is it Time to Treat Private Foundation and Public Charities Alike? was published in the June 2006 (Vol.52, No.3) edition of The Exempt Organization Tax Review.

Paul Hodge published the journal Baby Boomer Women: Secure Futures or Not?, a collaborative study by the Harvard Generations Policy Program and the Global Generations Policy Institute.  With baby boomer women facing unique employment, financial, retirement, housing and health care challenges, this study provides answers on how baby boomer women and women of all ages may experience abundant, secure and fulfilling lives.  For information and a free copy click here.

New Hauser Job Postings

Two new jobs have been posted on the Employment section of the Hauser website.

Director of Entrepreneurship Initiative
The Kennedy School of Government seeks to appoint a Director of its rapidly developing Social Entrepreneurship Initiative. The position is a nontenured position that combines administrative, outreach responsibilities and academic responsibilities. Administrative responsibilities would include coordinating a variety of activities carried out within the Kennedy School and University and staffing a University-Wide Faculty Committee on Social Entrepreneurship. Outreach responsibilities would include maintaining an active presence within the community of social entrepreneurs and those who seek to help them. For the right candidate, academic responsibilities would include research, teaching, and curriculum development in this developing field. The person appointed to this position would be expected to work closely with Professors David Gergen, Director of the Center for Public Leadership, Professor Stephen Goldsmith from the Ash Institute, and Professor Mark Moore, Faculty Director of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations.  Apply here.

Staff Assistant
Provides core assistant support to the Hauser Center faculty director and executive director. Performs word processing and edits reports, manuscripts and articles. Handles scheduling and finances. Coordinates and staffs meetings of the Hauser Center directors' team. Under the supervision of the Program Officer, helps plan for and coordinate Hauser Center events, assists in communications with donors and the Hauser Center advisory board, as well as other external constituents, and maintains grant accounts and processes payments utilizing new and existing financial systems. Gathers, prepares, and distributes course materials, including Internet research as well as development, posting and maintenance of course and faculty web pages. Schedules meetings and makes travel arrangements as needed. Creates and maintains filing systems for both directors. Performs related job duties as required.   Apply here.

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This edition of the Hauser Center E-News highlights activities and events from April-June 2006.

The Hauser Center E-News provides bi-monthly updates of Hauser Center events, activities, people and publications.  Past issues of the E-News can be found here.  The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations is a University-wide research center based at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government (KSG). The Center is not a degree granting institution.  Please email Laura Ax with E-News questions and feedback.